Known online postage services, such as Endicia™ Internet Postage, enable computer users to purchase U.S. postage and apply individual postage indicia to a wide spectrum of envelopes and labels using standard computer printers. These systems are based on Information Based Indicia (“IBI”), wherein information to uniquely identify a particular postage indicium, e.g., postage meter account number and meter piece count, is presented in barcode and/or human readable form on each mailpiece. These user-controlled systems have historically focused on producing complete mail pieces, i.e., these systems produce complete envelopes or labels, which contain the destination address, return address, the postage indicium, the date of mailing, the class mail, optional graphics and branding and mail processing barcodes, e.g., POSTNET or Delivery Confirmation.
Turning to FIG. 1, the computer environment in which a user may purchase online postage is shown. A user at a personal computer 11a connects to a server computer 15 configured to enable the user to electronically purchase valid postage, typically via an Internet-type network 20. The user interacts with a software program, e.g., DAZzle by Envelope Manager Software, on the personal computer 11a, downloaded from the server computer 15 and/or installed on the personal computer 11a, that allows the user to manage postage purchases. Systems of purchasing, printing, and generating online postage are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,562 to Whitehouse, filed Aug. 22, 1991, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,945 to Whitehouse, filed Mar. 20, 1997, both of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Electronic commerce (“e-commerce”) is an industry that is contributing to the growth in popularity of online postage services largely because the online postage services can efficiently and cost-effectively support the high volume of transactions that e-commerce companies typically deal with. For example, Endicia™ Internet Postage enables e-commerce sellers to purchase and print a virtually unlimited number of postage and shipping labels upon immediate request, which allows the sellers to rapidly fulfill product orders even at high volume without the need for expensive postage metering hardware.
However, current systems require e-commerce sellers to manage multiple applications, e.g., applications to handle payments and applications to handle postage and shipping, which can create some inefficiencies in operation. Accordingly, an improved online postage service would be desirable.